A new poll shows the popularity of Obamacare, known formally as the Affordable Care Act, has reached its peak just as Republican lawmakers and President Donald Trump begin the process of repealing and replacing it.
The Pew Research Center poll asked about 1,500 Americans whether or not they support the healthcare law and if they think it should be repealed. Although the poll oversampled Democrats by almost 200 respondents, 54 percent said they approved of the law and 43 percent were against it, according to the report on the Pew website.
The number of Democrats supporting Obamacare was stable at 85 percent, while the number of Republicans disapproving of the law was also steady at about 89 percent. The ideology change came from Independents, whose support for Obamacare increased from about 41 percent before the election to 53 percent.
Even among Republicans who didn’t like the law, however, there was a shift in the number who thought it should be repealed. While 44 percent still thought the law should be repealed, an almost equal number, 42 percent, thought it should be modified rather than replaced, according to the poll.
Younger adults under age 30 approved of the healthcare law by a two-to-one margin, about 65 percent to 31 percent who disapproved. In October, the popularity margin was much closer, 51 percent to 45 percent. More educated respondents were also more supportive of Obamacare.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll out Friday also showed Obamacare's popularity is growing, with 48 percent in favor of the law and 42 percent against it, the highest favorable rating in a Kaiser poll since 2010.